Rise of the Pharaohs

Set and filmed on the streets of Cairo, this 15 minute documentary, created for Red Bull, tells the underdog tale of Team Egypt’s Valorant Esports team, rising to a shock victory in the grand finale of the international Campus Clutch tournament in Madrid.

The film uses animated sequences made in After Effects to help retell the backstory of Team Egypt. We animate their humble beginnings honing their skills in Cairo’s internet cafes, living in a gaming house for months, and the hectic leadup to the event itself, waiting for visas outside an army base, training in a hotel corridor at 3am…

In collaboration with Sami Young at Heehaw and Spike Smigelski at Red Bull, I took this project from pitch to final output, researching and writing interview questions for the team, shaping the narrative, and flying out to Cairo to direct the interviews and B-Roll. I oversaw the edit, animation, and motion graphics, to get across the mechanics of the tournament and gameplay, and the human aspects of the victory against all odds.